Chris Uba
The Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has expressed commitment to finding solution to the growing unemployment in the country which currently stands at 23.1 per cent.
The Director General of NECA, Timothy Olawale, who stated this at the first job fair organised by the association, in Lagos, with the theme: “Promoting Employability for National Development,” said the objective of the fair was to promote employability and create a credible platform where organisations meet potential employees in an informal setting.
As part of the efforts, he said, NECA plans to engage employers of labour with the aim to securing placement for unemployed Nigerian youths with prerequisite competencies. This would include linking unemployed skilled Nigerians with foreign employers.
Over 2000 job seekers participated in the one-day Job fair, which held in Lagos.
Essentially, the fair, Olawale said would give job seekers the platform to learn more about potential employers and the opportunities that abound in the labour market.
“We are, therefore, inviting companies and job seekers to participate. With over 1000 youths and 100 Human Resource Managers expected at this event, both employers and job seekers will benefit tremendously,” he added.
Already, at local level, the association is strategising with some multinationals, including Dangote Group, Nestle, Guinness, 7Up Bottling Company, Shell, Chi Limited, Jobberman, Trust Fund Pension among others, with the aim of creating opportunities for young graduates in the country.
Olawale, said the job fair was another initiative by NECA towards mitigating the alarming unemployment rate in Africa’s biggest economy.
“We started the technical job scheme in partnership with Industrial Training Fund (ITF). We also started the online modules on how to become entrepreneurs, and now the job fair,” he said.
He added that NECA would also be opening discussions with employer organisation counterparts during the 2020 ILO international conference in Geneva, Switzerland, for job international job opportunities for Nigerian youths.
The acting President of NECA, Taiwo Adeniyi, in his remarks said the fair was also created to enable the unemployed interact with companies to acquire employability skills, noting that in some cases, jobs are actually available, but the graduates not employable.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report showed that as of Q3 2018, unemployment rate was 23.1 per cent, while the underemployment rate was 20.1 per cent.
The NBS last released employment data a year ago when it said unemployment stood at 18.8 percent in Q3 2017.
